London Lightning edge Windsor Express 106-105 to take 2-0 lead in Central Division final

London Lightning forward Garrett Williamson proved once again that his desire to win is bottomless.

He delivered his team from a certain defeat Sunday.

He tipped in a missed shot at the buzzer giving the Lightning a 106-105 win over the Windsor Express.

The Lightning lead the best-of-seven Central Division final 2-0.

The Express have to be heartbroken after their first two games at Budweiser Gardens. In Game 1 they had a three-point shot at the buzzer for the win but it clanked just a little long. Sunday’s loss was even more shocking.

They trailed the Lightning by 25 points at one point in the game and fought back to take a four-point lead. With 27 seconds left the Express led 105-104.

Lightning’s Doug Herring Jr. drove the lane for the win and missed the shot. The rebound came to Williamson and while falling out of bounds, he threw the ball at the basket. Express’ Juan Pattillo had the ball but for some reasons decided to try and throw it down court. Cadougan got it again and missed another shot, but Williamson tipped the ball, which went through the hoop as the buzzer sounded.

The Express had three chances to grab the rebound and couldn’t do it.

“I was scored on the play before and I was a little pissed off,” Williamson said of the winning basket. “I came down, I got a piece (of the ball) and fell down on the ground. I looked up and saw I had a little time, got back up and tipped it in.”

Williamson was swarmed by his teammates. Royce White jumped on the scoring table to celebrate while Express coach Bill Jones walked the length of the floor waving his arms signalling he thought the shot didn’t beat the buzzer.

Even after Herring missed the first shot Lightning coach Kyle Julius didn’t think it was over.

“Our guys fight,” Julius said. “I knew there was time on the clock. That’s good time management. (Herring) attacked with the right amount of time. He didn’t wait too long to attack. When you are down, you have to take the best available shot as soon as possible so you can offensive rebound.”

It was Williamson’s exclamation point to a marvellous performance. He had 32 points and eight rebounds.

White added 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in the game while Marvin Phillips had 19 points and nine rebounds in only 15 minutes of work.

But coming back from 25 points down to almost win and lose at the buzzer is a kick in the gut.

“We came out four-for-22 in the first quarter. We got good shots. They just weren’t dropping,” said Express assistant coach Dave Walls. “Then, we played Windsor Express basketball to take the lead. We have to find a way to hold the lead in the end. That’s two games in a row we had the lead in the fourth quarter and it got away from us.”

The positive of two tough losses is that the Express could have been up 2-0 instead of down 2-0.

“We are giving ourselves a chance to win and that’s what you want in any game. This London team has been the best team through the whole season. We just have to find a way to finish. I don’t think we’re deflated. I think we know we can beat this team. We just have to come out every time we step on the floor . . . knowing we can win this series. This series isn’t over.”

The discouraging part for the Express is the Lightning haven’t played well and have managed to win both games.

In a rare occurrence, Ryan Anderson, a man in the running for the league’s most valuable player award was held without a point Sunday.

Julius said his team made some “incredibly ridiculous mental errors.”

Throw in the fact the Express were desperate to get back in the game and it made for a free-­wheeling second half.

“We played well enough in the first half to be able to play poorly in the second half and find a way to win,” Julius said.

He added it wasn’t just the fact his team “was terrible,” but also that Windsor was a “very good team.”

“They’ve got a lot of veterans and they’ve got a lot of guys that they added recently that are very good,” Julius said.

“Any time you can add players a week before the end of the season, it’s going to be good for your team and those guys made plays at the end.”

After two goofy finishes, who knows what Game 3 holds Thursday at the Atlas Tube Centre in Belle River.

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